


The Bite

by Thatoneloser_kid



Series: Ellie x Dina prompts [2]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 08:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15432933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatoneloser_kid/pseuds/Thatoneloser_kid
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: I heard you do ellieXdina prompts! Please can you do one with Dina finding out about Ellie’s bite? I always wonder how she found out/reacted





	The Bite

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! if you have any prompts send them to me at thatoneloser-kid.tumblr.com : )

Ellie had always worn long sleeves shirts since she was bitten, it was something she got used to doing, hiding the bite.

That didn’t change with her new surroundings, in face she was extra careful to make sure that no one around her seen it.

Then there was Dina.

Ellie had been friends with pretty girls before, it always ended badly, so she wasn’t looking for any kind of friendship. So Ellie was cold and short with Dina.

Dina didn’t care.

From the moment Dina came into Ellie’s life (sliding into the bench beside her while Ellie read one of the comics on the complex, a brilliant smile on her face when Ellie looked at her) Ellie knew she was screwed.

Ellie avoided Dina, but she still always managed to find her, worm her way under Ellie’s skin until it got to the point that Ellie was disappointed when Dina didn’t come find her, that she missed Dina when she wasn’t around, and Ellie hated it.

Come the age of sixteen, a year and a half of being at the complex, Ellie decided she was going to eventually get a tattoo to cover up the bite so she didn’t have to keep wearing long sleeve shirts, especially in this blistering heat.

Dina fell down on the grass beside her one day when they temperatures were pushing one-Oh-two.

Ellie glanced at the girl, dressed in short shorts and a tank top, her hair pulled up and her skin damp.

“How can you be wearing long sleeves in this weather?” Dina asked, and Ellie watched as she took a long drink of the water she had, a bead of sweat rolling down her neck.

“It’s not that bad.” Ellie shrugged, tucking her arm under her head an forcing herself to look away.

“It’s not-“ Dina frowned back at her. “It’s the hottest day in years, El.”

“I run cold,” Ellie answered.

Dina rolled her eyes, reclining back beside Ellie. “We should go to the lake when the sun cools a little.”

“Can’t swim,” Ellie answered simply, her eyes closed.

“Learn,” Dina shot back.

“No thanks,”

“You’re learning,”

Ellie felt Dina shift, and then she was being shielded from the sun, making her sigh and opened her eyes to see Dina staring down at her with a soft smile. “What?”

“Your freckles,” Dina ghosted her fingers over her cheek. “They’re cute.”

“Sweet talkin’ ain’t gonna get you anywhere, Princess.” Ellie grumbled, pushing Dina out of the way of the sun.

“Come on,” Dina batted her away, blocking the sun again. “We don’t have to go deep, just tread water, cool down a bit.”

“I’m fine here,” Ellie answered, the last thing her needed in her mind with her mess of teenage hormones was the image of Dina in a swim suit.

“Ellie,” Dina warned in a hard tone. “Please.”

“You have all your other friends to go with,” Ellie huffed, knowing her resolves were slipping. “Why not go with them?”

“None of them are my best friend,” Dina answered simply, taking Ellie by surprises, she had no idea Dina thought of her as a best friend. “I have more fun hanging out with you.”

Ellie looked up into pleading brown eyes and sighed. “Fine, but only for a little bit.”

“Great,” Dina grinned, bouncing to her feet. “Meet you at the gate in two hours.”

Dina rushed off then, and Ellie watched her go before reclining back on the grass, shaking her head at herself. “Get a grip, Ellie.”

Dina didn’t meet her at the gate, because Ellie didn’t move from the grass so she spotted her as she headed for the gate, giving Ellie’s side a little kick.

“Have you even moved?”

“Nope,” Ellie popped the ‘p’, not opening her eyes.

“You’re swimming in that?”

“Yup,” she popped the ‘p’ again, this time pushing herself up onto her elbows, squinting up at her.

Dina had only changed her top, now wearing a t-shirt and the short shorts, a towel wrapped around her shoulders.

“Are you ready to go?” Ellie asked.

“I am,”

“Then let’s go.”

The lake wasn’t far, but Ellie was on edge, she hadn’t been out of the complex much since arriving, but Dina tentatively touched the back of hand, and Ellie felt herself relaxing at the contact.  

Dina dropped her towel onto a nearby rock and kicked off her shoes, then she pulled off her her shirt, and Ellie could feel her cheeks begin to burn at the sight of the girls toned, dark skin. 

Diana grinned at her before heading straight for the water.

Ellie pulled off her own shoes and shaking her head as she followed her, until the water was up to her ankles, then she stopped.

Dina was already waist deep, the lake dropped off steeply just in front of Ellie, and she glanced back at Ellie, offering her hand when she realised she had stopped.

“It’s not fast flowing, you’ll be good.”

Ellie was unsure but took ahold of Dina’s hand and allowed her to pull her in, waist deep.

Ellie had to admit that it was nice, the cool water on her hot skin.

Dina let go of her hand in favour of grabbing her arm with the intent to move further but she stopped when her fingers landed on the bite, and Ellie tensed.

“You got a scar under there?” She asked and before Ellie could pull away she had pushed up her sleeve.

Dina faltered for a second, and Ellie braced herself for her to scream, or run away and tell everyone.

But that didn’t happen.

Dina let her fingers ghost over the raised bumps. “Tell me you aren’t turning?” She asked and Ellie was surprised to see genuine pain in the girls eyes when she looked up.

“No, I’m not.”

Dina closed her eyes a released a relieved sigh through her nose. “How old?”

“Couple of years,”

“And you haven’t turned,” Dina left her hand in Ellie’s skin and took a step closer. “How?”

“I dunno,” Ellie shrugged. “They said it evolved somehow, I have it in me but it’s not active, or some shit.”

“Or some shit,” Dina repeated with a little laugh. “Jeez, El, that’s crazy.”

“You’re not scared? Or weirded out?”

That made Dina frown. “Of course not, why would you think that?”

“I dunno, I guess all this bite has done is cause me problems.”

“Come on, we’ll sit for a bit.” Dina dragged Ellie out of the water and to the rock, both of them perching themselves on the hot rock, their shoulders and thighs pressed together.

Ellie looked down at the bite. “It’s a constant, horrible reminder of a day I want to forget.”

When Ellie looked back at Dina she was just staring, her eyes flitting over Ellie’s face. “What happened?” She whispered.

“You ever had to put a bullet in the head of someone you love?” Ellie asked.

Dina shook her head slowly. “Parent?”

“No,” Ellie licked her lips, unsure of what to call Riley at first. “First love.”

“Shit,” Dina breathed.

“We were about to start something new, you know? We were gonna take off together, me away from the military and her from the Fire-Flies.”

Dina didn’t flinch at the pronoun used, she just looked at Ellie with a soft look, not pity but protectiveness, like she was trying to figure out how to stop Ellie hurting.

Ellie wasn’t sure that was possible.

“We were kids, now I know it would never have worked but we weren’t happy, and she was leaving me so she asked me to ask her to stay.” Ellie was staring at her arm again. “I didn’t, I asked her not to go, she didn’t think twice about yanking off her tags and telling me we were leaving.”

Ellie found herself playing with Riley’s dogtags she had around her neck, prompting Dina to look down at then.

“Those hers?”

“Yeah,”

Ellie expected Dina to tell her she’s sorry, give her that same pity look everyone else did, but, again, Dina didn’t fit into her expectations.

Dina took the tags from Ellie’s fingers and moving closer, too closer for the feelings Ellie had brewing for this girl.

The front of the tags had the fire-flies insignia on it, and Dina ran her thumb over the raised metal before flipping them over.

> _Riley Abel. 000129._

“I reckon she’d be proud of you, you know?” Dina let the dog tags fall against Ellie’s chest and looked up at her. “How you’ve fought through everything life has thrown at you, it’s incredible.”

“Yeah, if she had seen me kill all those men she would have been proud.” Ellie hummed, glancing at Dina. “Aren’t you going to say your sorry? That it will get better with time. Time heals all wounds.”

“Nah,” Dina snorted. “That stuff is total bullshit, time doesn’t heal shit. This is something you don’t get over, it’s something you get better at dealing with. It probably won’t go away, you’ll always have this hole where she used to be, but that will lessen, other people will fill that hole.”

“But never completely?”

“Never completely,” Dina hummed, glancing at Ellie. “It’s hard, it’s always gonna hurt.”

Ellie laughed, her head hanging. “Thank you, for not pussyfooting.”

“I like you too much to pull that shit,”

Ellie looked at Dina through her eyelashes, smiling when the girl nudged her shoulder.

“Swim?”

“Fine, but no deeper than my ribs.”

Dina rolled her eyes, hopping off the rock and dragging Ellie into the water.

Ellie ended up chin deep.


End file.
